This invention relates to an arrangement for use in a mail sorting machine.
In general, use is made in a mail sorting machine of an installation for detecting a postal code number or a zone improvement program code described on each mail item, such as a postcard or a sealed letter. The detection is possible when other postal information pieces are scarce on the mail item except an addressee's name and address including the addressee's postal code number and when an information position of the postal code number is strictly defined on the mail item.
Nowadays, a transparent envelope is often used to make a commercial message or to allow postal information on an enclosed letter to be visible. The transparent envelope is provided by a substantially transparent medium, such as a paraffin or cellophane film.
The addressee's address is described on an opaque label attached to the transparent envelope.
On detecting the postal code number or ZIP (Zone Improvement Program) code on the opaque label, it is necessary to first detect the opaque label attached to the transparent envelope. Subsequently, the postal code number or ZIP code must be selected from various other information including the commercial message and/or the postal information pieces.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,158,835, a device is proposed for preliminarily detecting information positions of the respective postal information pieces, deriving the postal code numbers of the addressee's addresses from the detected information positions, and sorting the mail items in accordance with the derived postal code numbers. However, this device cannot be available for detecting the postal information pieces from the transparent envelope because consideration is made in the above-referenced patent only about a mail item having a transparent window.